From blogs to social media to events, business owners are creating more content than ever. But we often don't have the budget to hire a designer for every task — and we're not sure if we can make professional-looking designs ourselves. In this episode, graphic designer Catrina Gardner will reveal all her favorite easy-to-use (and free!) tools for c…

Fred Joyal says bold people are never the ones to stop themselves. And Fred knows a thing or two about being bold: he founded 1-800-DENTIST, the nation's #1 free dental-referral service. Now he's the author of "Superbold: From Under-Confident to Charismatic in 90 Days." Boldness, Fred says, is not something that's innate to the lucky few. Boldness …

The way we make purchase decisions informs the way we sell to others. And the way we sell to others is our "sales personality." In this episode, Sabrina Torres will break down the four types of sales personalities — and then teach you how to use yours to your advantage.Av Jottful

Matt Ward, author of "The High Five Effect," doesn't work past 1 pm. Nor does he work on Fridays. And he'll take four cruises this year. He's created the lifestyle of his dreams — without doing any of the tedious work often associated with marketing. In this episode, he shares how he moved his business past the insecurity stage by building recurrin…

Just because your business is new or small doesn't mean you can't compete with the big guys. In fact, smaller businesses often have unique advantages. For example, they can be nimble and do things that don't scale. In this episode, Salesflare founder and CEO, Jeroen Corthout, shares how he entered a crowded industry (CRM) — and managed to build a b…

Deirdre Tshien has built multiple successful businesses, across two continents, by cracking the code on social media. She's been through all the social-media platform changes (ALL. OF. THEM.) and, more importantly, figured out how to rise above these changes to find new customers and clients. In this episode, Deirdre helps us understand how social-…

Hernan Sias, co-host of the Business Bros Podcast, describes podcasting as the new "let's get coffee." In this episode, Hernan shares how podcasting can benefit businesses of any size — regardless of whether you sell to consumers or other businesses. Hernan demystifies the entire process: from booking guests strategically and recording a quality sh…

Nick Loper, the man behind Side Hustle Nation, is nothing if not tenacious. Armed with a microphone and an experimenter's mindset, Nick has grown his community to 75,000 email subscribers and an active 46,000-member Facebook group. Nick will share his marketing journey with us. Learn how he employed all kinds of content marketing tactics, over many…

If you're providing a unique service and your brand is largely unknown, how do you make prospective customers aware of your business? Nathan Labenz, founder and CEO of Waymark, experienced just this challenge. His company provides commercial-making software so anyone can create video ads. In this episode, Nathan reveals the process he went through …

Around the world and through the ages, business owners have greeted each morning with a question: "What can I do today that will have the most impact on my business?" Matt Rouse, author of "Flattening the Hamster Wheel," will teach us how to stop grinding and start moving the needle. Learn how to prioritize tactics and make practical, intentional d…

Joseph Wilkins's agency makes videos that "entertain you into buying." And his team is damn good at it. They've delivered videos with 50 million views, sometimes overwhelming clients with more leads than they can handle. In this episode, Joseph will walk us through the eight-step process his team uses to make funny sales videos that convert into le…

As a business owner, you're probably doing even more public speaking than you realize: sales calls; elevator pitches; speaking events; video marketing; and more! Oh my! Becoming a more confident public speaker can help your business improve across the board. Brendan Kumarasamy, founder of MasterTalk, will share his tips & tricks for everything from…

Showing up and being consistent when marketing your business is critical to success. And consistency is easiest to maintain when there's some sort of system in place. In this episode, Jackie will reveal how to develop a lightweight system that's appropriate for marketing a small business. She'll help us understand what common software applications …

Having founded three businesses and successfully sold one, Raj Goodman Anand knows how to build sales momentum. He now runs a content-marketing shop where he teaches other business owners how to achieve sustainable growth. In this episode, you'll learn how content marketing can be applied across multiple channels to propel your business's growth. R…

We've all witnessed the magic that happens when a business uses just the right words to describe their customers and the benefits they deliver. But few business owners are gifted copywriters. How can we find the language that will attract prospects and win deals? In this episode, Monica Badiu teaches us how to gather intel from our prospects and cu…

When Travis Rosbach first launched his steel water-bottle brand, Hydro Flask, he relied on some scrappy tactics (and a lot of well-placed swag!) to get noticed. Seeing results, Travis leaned into this cheap-and-creative guerrilla marketing effort. Ultimately, he built Hydro Flask into a multi-million-dollar brand that he later sold for $210MM. In t…

Chelsey Knuth, aka: The Wisconsinista, knew nothing about social media marketing. But she was inspired to share photos of her home state on Instagram. She slowly grew a loyal following and a flourishing side gig as a "creator." Her Instagram account now appears on the first page of search results for "Wisconsin influencer" and garners her 20 client…

If you're in a service business, you've surely realized your income potential is limited by the number of hours you can work. Have you thought about packaging your expertise as a product you can sell over and over again, such as a course? In this episode we're joined by Marcio Santos, founder of Nerd Digital. Marcio helps business owners turn their…

Shawn Walchef's sports-entertainment restaurant concept started as a dud. He and his partner tried all the standard marketing tactics, but their restaurant just wasn't standing out from the crowd. Then one day Shawn started telling the restaurant's story with short, unscripted videos — and he saw reservations start to grow. Today Shawn runs Cali BB…

Jodi Brandstetter turned an $8000 investment and a knack for writing into a book that's delivered new clients, client upgrades, paid speaking engagements, and abundant press coverage and credibility. Think you can't author a book? Jodi wrote "Hire by Design" while serving as tutor, lunchlady, and playground supervisor for her five-year old child. S…

Will Russell's first business was not a success; he sold a single ebook for $9, then gave up. When he started his agency, Russell Marketing, he tried every business generation tactic he could think of in his first year; some worked, others failed miserably. Then, Will learned the secret to successful launches. His agency now helps launch other busi…

Envy Creative, the video production company and agency Mike Vannelli initially founded out of his home, has (not surprisingly!) relied on video marketing to power its impressive growth. Mike now employs a team of 13 that has produced more than 4300 videos. Video marketing — on both paid advertising and unpaid channels — drives 60% of his company's …

Annie P. Ruggles recalls the day she realized that unless she started taking a more proactive approach to selling, her marketing efforts would be all in vain. In this episode, she shares her own struggle with "sales avoidance" and the steps she took to overcome it. You'll learn strategies for becoming more effective at selling — so you can grow you…

Word-of-mouth referrals are doubly good: they're less expensive than marketing-generated leads and, because they often come from existing customers, they tend to be better qualified. We'd all love to get more referrals, wouldn't we? But how do we build up a referral business, especially if we're starting out with just a couple of clients? In this e…

Lindsay Pinchuk started her business, Bump Club and Beyond, in 2010 as a side gig. She was pregnant and had $500 in her pocket. Within eight years, her business was reaching 1.5MM parents and parents-to-be — attracting multiple acquirers. She sold the business and continued to lead the brand, doubling its reach over the next few years. In this epis…

Destini Copp was a marketing student, corporate marketer, and marketing professor before starting her own marketing-coaching business. In other words: Destini knows a thing or two about marketing! But she nonetheless found it very challenging to market her newly established business. In this episode, Destini will talk about how she learned to focus…

Last year, Ellen Jantsch's growth marketing agency literally went from 0 to 60 (inbound leads per month, that is). Like most new businesses, Tuff initially struggled to gain traction. She relied on spurts of new clients from networking and outbound sales but was frustrated by the slow, unpredictable growth. Then she started treating Tuff like a cli…

Jennifer Zhang started a watch company six months out of college. She was broke and had just quit her full-time job. Within two weeks, she launched a successful Kickstarter campaign and turned a $1K investment into $91K in sales. Her company continued on to sell $400K in its first year — during the COVID pandemic! In this episode, Jennifer will pul…

Cheryl Czach had a comfortable executive-coaching business, serving corporate clients she acquired through word-of-mouth referrals. But a massive disruption in the market ("The Great Resignation") meant she needed to rethink what she offered clients — and rapidly learn how to find new clients using marketing techniques. In this episode, Cheryl talk…

With more than 350,000 social media followers and a memorable stint on Bravo TV, celebrity stylist and motherhood/fashion/lifestyle expert Ali Levine certainly knows the value of publicity. Ali will share how she got started building her audience and how it propels the growth of her business. Learn how you can use public relations and collaboration…

Michael Eckstein is a one-man show, delivering “artisanal, grass-fed accounting and business advice.” Learn how Michael uses marketing (and his copywriting superpower) to build a more profitable business, not just a bigger one. He’ll reveal the system that drives his success and the missteps he made along the way — including how he gave up on Linke…

When the pandemic hit, the design agency CM2 Media lost an alarming 80% of its retainer revenue overnight. The owner, Mark Chyz, knew the business had become complacent and needed a transformative approach to business development. In this episode, Mark shares the tactics he employed to not only recover all that lost revenue, but to grow the agency …

Nikita Montgomery's "urban beauty oasis" opened a few short months before the Covid-19 pandemic forced business closures. But Niki was not deterred. She leaned on her experience in public relations and social media management to deploy an Instagram marketing strategy that now drives 90% of the salon's revenues. In this episode, you'll learn how Nik…

When Cynthia Flynn was deciding whether to start her own law firm, she joined the local Chamber of Commerce to see if she could earn "just one client." She was successful, so she joined another networking group. And then another, and another, and so on — until she was exhausted and not seeing enough value for her time commitment. In this episode, y…

Manuel Valencia started his marketing agency, CONNECTIVE Agency, in 2014 when he became a stay-at-home dad. Manny needed the business to be something he could do in the 90 minutes each day that his youngest daughter went down for her afternoon nap. A few years later the company had grown enough that he felt comfortable asking his risk-averse wife i…

Our guest, Aaron Hendon, took a business he readily admits is a commodity service (real estate) and turned it into a Seattle “Five Star Award” winning team for the last 10 years running. He achieved this unlikely growth by developing his own process for making and promoting highly-targeted content. In this episode of Marketing Made Easy by Jottful,…

Courtney Larvadain is the founder of Glow Social Media, a digital content and social media marketing coaching and training firm. She transitioned from working alone and charging clients by the hour for social media management to building a scalable multi-employee business. Courtney continued to grow her business while caring full time for two child…

Blog posts, social posts, podcasts, webinars — there are so many content opportunities for your business! But content marketing can quickly become a time suck if you don’t have a clear objective and plan. Hilary Kirchner, content marketer and founder at Dream Write Creative, joins the podcast to help us understand: What “content marketing” encompas…

YouTube is the second-largest search engine, after Google. Videos often boast the highest levels of engagement on social media platforms. Advertising on YouTube remains affordable. Can you afford to ignore the power of video? But getting started with video can feel overwhelming. And that’s after you get past the nervousness of being on camera in th…

Did you know that facts told as a story are 7x MORE likely to be remembered? Telling the story of your business is essential to winning clients, media coverage, and attracting employees (no one wants to work for a business with a lackluster story). And while a success story is exciting - an "overcoming all the odds story" is even better. Public-rel…

If your business is like most, showing up prominently in search-engine results is important. But search engine optimization (SEO) often seems complicated, expensive, and ineffective. Vanessa helps us understand what practical actions business owners could (and should!) be taking. In this episode, Vanessa shares with us: How do search engines decide…

Has the time come to engage a little professional help for your marketing? Making a full-time marketing hire is overkill for most small businesses, but a helping hand can really free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business. In this episode, Elayna helps us understand: What tasks should you get help with — and what should you do your…

It’s difficult to stand out in a sea of similar businesses. Luckily, there is a way that you can differentiate yourself from the competition — while standing up for a cause you believe in at the same time. In this episode, Sheryl talks with us about: The benefits of incorporating giving into your business; How to select the perfect nonprofit partne…

Struggling to think of things to write about? Worried that if you start a blog you’ll quickly run out of topics? You know that posting fresh content on your website and showing up on social media is important for brand awareness, but how can you sustain it for the long run? In this episode, Trisha shows us how to easily generate an entire year's wo…

Does marketing ever feel like a black hole of waste and confusion? Preston shares practical advice about how you can use the StoryBrand method to clarify your messaging — so you can build a marketing-and-sales system that actually works.Av Jottful

Emily tells us that for very dollar your business invests in email marketing, you can expect to see $38 in return. It's the highest ROI marketing channel. So how can you take advantage of it?Av Emily McGuire